The Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookbook: Healthy Meals for a Plant-Based Diet
Delicious, nourishing vegan food on a budget IS possible
Looking for vegan cookbooks with healthy meals that are full of flavor but won’t empty your wallet? The Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookbook is here with satisfying dishes full of easy-to-find, protein-rich ingredients. Most recipes take 30-45 minutes or less―so your schedule stays as stress-free as your budget.
Get advice you won’t find in other vegan cookbooks on stocking your pantry, maximizing food purchases, and avoiding waste. Discover cost-effective everyday ingredients you can use for a variety of vegan dishes. Whether you’re a new or longtime vegan, find fresh recipes for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, and desserts.
This budget-friendly choice in vegan cookbooks includes:
- Low cost, high protein―Balancing nutritious meals is easy with servings that center plant-based proteins like lentils, tofu, beans, and chickpeas.
- 145 flavorful recipes―The possibilities are endless: Sweet Chili Mango Tofu, Mushroom and Green Pea Farro Risotto, Maple Pecan Sautéed Brussels Sprouts, and many more.
- Hearty whole foods―No overly processed meat or dairy alternatives necessary, as in other vegan cookbooks―these dishes let whole ingredients shine.
Get excited about cooking with the affordable ideas in this standout among vegan cookbooks!
Reviews (49)
It's okay...very few pictures
I honestly was excited to get this book, but I am disappointed overall. The recipes are nothing new, nothing you can't get online or in any of my other vegan books (that I currently own). There are less than a handful of pictures of the recipes. To not have more than a few pictures was a HUGE let down. I have made a few of the recipes and they were fine; I needed to tweak them to my taste, but a good baseline. It's a nice looking book and will add it to my collection, but more than likely it will head to Goodwill in a year when I sort through and donate anything I haven't opened and is taking up valuable cookbook space.
Diverse and Easy to Follow!
Love these recipes! The only complaint is the last one in the book- for strawberry rhubarb coffee cake is missing the temperature to bake it. I’m winging it at 400° and have my fingers crossed. Other than that, no other complaints.
Great book
Love this book. My roommate and I cook every night and so far our favorite is the sweet and spicy tofu. So delicious it tastes like Panda Express
Don't like not having pictures of completed dishes
I didn't like not having pictures of the food. I couldn't tell what the finished recipe was.
Many good recipes
I cooked one recipe and will be doing many more. Dating a vegetarian (not vegan) so finding good recipes is challenging.
Packed Full of Awesome Vegan Recipes
Finally a vegan cookbook that is basic and uses pantry staples! This book allows you to cook amazing vegan meals without breaking the bank purchasing obscure ingredients you will only use once. The beginning of the book gives you a list of basic vegan pantry staples and kitchen tools. Plus some budget tips to help save money in the kitchen. Most of these recipes can be made quickly. Great for both the new and experienced vegan. This book would also appeal to anyone who is not vegan and wants to build some vegan recipes into their diet. There are even labels for soy-free, nut-free and gluten-free on top of many of the recipes. The second chapter is full of kitchen staples and is very helpful. As someone who makes most of their own dressings and sauces this chapter is one of my favorites. I also like that there are chapters for specific protein sources. This is great if you have some protein on hand and. need a quick go to recipe. Overall, I really enjoyed this cookbook and look forward to making more recipes. it has quickly become my go to book when I am looking for something to throw together for dinner. I recieved a copy from the publisher for my honest review.
Creative, Cozy, Frugal, and Delicious!
I love this cookbook! Author Ally Lazare has created a whole compilation of delicious food created with our grocery budget in mind. The chapter on staples shows the reader how to make reasonably-priced chorizo, crumble, and bakon out of pressed tofu. Other "wow" recipes include Roasted Garlic Guacamole (heaven!), a simple balanced Pico de Gallo, a delicious White Garlic Dill Sauce, and a healthy Queso dip/sauce. Chapter 3 is dedicated to Tofu, Tempeh, and Soy. I have to spend more time with this chapter, but so far the Seasoned Breaded Tofu Cutlets with Linguini, Cajun-Spiced Tofu Steaks, and the Soy Curl Shawarma Wrap are most intriguing. Chapter 4 continues the protein options with Beans, Legumes, and Seeds. Chickpea Florentine Frittatas offer soy-free breakfast protein, as do sugar-free omega-rich Seedy Breakfast Cookies (so tasty!) There's a cream cheese made out of sunflower seeds, an interesting red lentil soup, White Bean Chili, Chickpea Cauliflower Burgers, and Lentil Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy I will love to try when the weather is cooler. Chapter 5: Fruits, Vegetables, Mushrooms, and More & Chapter 6: Grains: Quinoa, Millet, and More include some of the most creative recipes in the book. I'm intrigued by Cinnamon Orange French Toast with Quick Raspberry Coulis, Fresh Fruit Crepes with Dark Chocolate Sauce (yay for vegan crepes!), Fruit Explosion Muffins (oil-free), Sweet and Spicy Cauliflower, Roasted Veg Ratatouille on Creamy Polenta, Sweet Potato Crisp, Cauliflower Wings Two Ways, Turmeric Millet with Cranberries, Raisins, and Almonds, Mushroom and Green Pea Farro Risotto, Cinnamon Oatmeal Hemp Muffins, Rum Raisin Steel Cut Oatmeal, Mom's Tomato Rice. The last two chapters are 7: Snacks and Sides and 8: Desserts. Chapter 7 has lots of comfort classics like Creamy Coleslaw, Cheddar Jalapeno Corn Bread, Green Bean Casserole, Spinach and Bread Casserole, a couple versions of mashed potatoes, flavored cashews, etc. I LOVE her seasonings for Movie-Night Popcorn. The dessert chapter includes standard classics and fun new creations like Blueberry Hand Pies, the Canadian favorite Date Squares, Cranberry Orange, and Strawberry Rhubarb, Coffee Cakes. Each recipe is labeled: at the top of the page, one can see whether the recipes is gluten-free, nut-free, or soy-free. On the side of the page includes total size of product, prep time, cook time, and serving nutritional information. The "staples" chapter seems to include total nutritional information for the bulk of the recipe, and not for individual servings. This is not applicable in future chapters. Creative, cozy, frugal, and delicious!!! Thanks, Callisto, for the review copy!
Find a different vegan cookbook
In the couple weeks since I received a free review copy from the publisher, my family has enjoyed making one recipe from each chapter of this book, and we liked most of them. My young daughters especially enjoyed helping with the granola bars and trail mix cookies. However, I'm vegan and have read many vegan cookbooks, and I fail to see how this particular one is "budget friendly." The author's main argument for the title appears to be that you can save a lot of money by not buying expensive meat substitutes and making her tofu version of ground beef, etc. instead. That should be obvious. She also recommends using canned beans, which is inexplicable in a "budget" vegan cookbook. There are very few pictures, and the organization is the hardest to follow of any vegan cookbook I've ever looked at. Somehow recipes for muffins, soup, sandwiches, and salad all ended up immediately following each other, and we managed to make three similar cookie/granola recipes from three different chapters. I also eat gluten free, and the allergy labels were not as helpful as usual for me. Many recipes could have been labeled gluten free if she'd simply listed tamari sauce as an alternative to soy sauce. There are more examples, but that is such a common and simple substitution that it was frustrating to realize the gluten-free label was meaningless and I would need to skim the ingredients lists anyway. Also, this book is not WFPB (whole foods plant-based) compatible. I was able to tweak the few recipes I made when needed, but most in here I probably won't ever attempt.
Uses cheap ingredients but not always the cheapest or healthiest options. Uses a lot of soy.
"The Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookbook" is a vegan cookbook that focused on using cheap ingredients. For example, she used canola or vegetable oil in most of the recipes. Unfortunately, she didn't point out that canola, corn, soy, and some other ingredients are GMO's (which can be harmful to health) unless these ingredients are certified organic or Non-GMO Project Verified. Oddly, she suggested using store-bought versions of vegan "dairy" (butter, cheese, milk) even though this is more expensive than making your own. The author used soy (especially tofu) in practically every recipe: 103 out of 145 recipes used soy. A large number of recipes were labeled nut-free. She also used a lot of hot spices: jalapenos, red curry, red pepper, hot sauce, etc. Most of the recipes served 4 to 6 people and took around 20-60 minutes to make. Almost all of the ingredients in the recipes should be easy to get. She included 20 recipes for sauces and dressings, 20 recipes using tofu and other soy, 20 recipes using beans and seeds, 25 recipes using fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, and more, 25 recipes using quinoa, millet, and other grains, 20 recipes for snacks and sides, and 15 recipes for desserts. The recipes provided the preparation time, cooking time, how much is made, ingredients, instructions, cooking and substitution tips. She labeled if a recipe was gluten-free, soy free, or nut free. Each recipe included "per serving" information on calories, total fat, carbohydrates, fiber, protein, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, iron, and zinc. There was one picture of a finished recipe for each section of recipes. I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
Price point friendly, tasty, and high quality recipes
The Budget-Friendly Vegan Cookbook is a recipe collection and cookbook for whole food plant based meals by Ally Lazare. Released 26th May 2020 by Callisto on their Rockridge Press imprint, it's 242 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The recipes are arranged thematically, an introduction with general directions for prep-work and pantry ingredients is followed by chapters for partial ingredients and staples, tofu tempeh and soy recipes, beans legumes and seeds, fruits vegetables mushrooms, grains, snacks and sides, and desserts. Each of the recipes includes an introductory description, ingredients listed in a bullet point sidebar (US measurements only, no metric equivalents), and step by step instructions. Recipes have special category notes in a header (nut free, gluten free, etc). Nutritional info includes calories, fat, carbs, fiber, protein, sodium and other micronutrients. Variations and alternatives are provided at the end of the recipes. There is a resource list, bibliography and related reading links, as well as a metric convesion table at the back of the book. Most of the ingredients should be available at any well stocked grocery store although some might need to be sourced at specialist (vegan) grocers. My main quibble with the book is that the recipes are mostly not photographed. There are some photos, and they're clear and attractive, but they only represent about 5% of the recipes included in the book. It is, however, a very well written book full of family friendly plant based foods many of which will also appeal to non-vegans. Four and a half stars. I've rounded up for the quality of the writing and the distinctly high quality of the recipes themselves (tasty!) and the mission of the book: high quality food with a budget friendly price tag. Good food shouldn't be ruinously expensive. Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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